Corey Crawford
| birth_place = Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ntl_team = CAN | draft = 52nd overall | draft_year = 2003 | draft_team = Chicago Blackhawks | career_start = 2005 }} Corey Crawford (born on December 31, 1984) is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the second round (52nd overall) by the Blackhawks in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Playing Career Corey was drafted 52nd overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. He spent his pre-junior career playing for the Midget AAA Gatineau Intrépides before spending his junior career with the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Corey was the goaltender for the Wildcats in the 2003-04 QMJHL playoffs when they ousted Rimouski Océanic in the first round. They went on to the President's Cup final, but lost the series to the Gatineau Olympiques. Corey currently holds the Wildcats record for Best Goals Against Average (2.47 in 2004–05) and Most Wins (35 in 2003–04). He is also tied with Simon Lajeunesse for Most Shutouts in a season (6 in 2004–05). Corey was named to the QMJHL's second All-Star team (2003–04 & 2004–05) twice. On January 22, 2006, Corey made his NHL debut with the Chicago Blackhawks against the Minnesota Wild. He relieved Adam Munro in the third period, made seven saves and did not allow any goals. On February 2, 2006, Corey had his first career start against the St. Louis Blues, finishing the evening with a record of five goals allowed and twenty-nine saves in a 6–5 shootout loss. On March 5, 2008, he recorded his first career win and shut-out against the Anaheim Ducks. On March 11, 2008, Corey recorded a strong performance against the Detroit Red Wings, stopping 45 of 47 shots in a 3–1 loss. On July 21, 2008, the Blackhawks re-signed Corey to a one-year deal. On November 28, 2008, he was recalled from the AHL to take the place of Nikolai Khabibulin who had been injured two nights earlier. On May 24, 2009, Corey made his first Stanley Cup Playoffs appearance in the second period of the Western Conference Finals against the Detroit Red Wings, replacing Cristobal Huet. He stopped six of seven shots before being replaced by Huet after the second period. Due to the departures of Antti Niemi to San Jose and Cristobal Huet to the Swiss League, Corey was promoted to back-up goalie behind Marty Turco for the 2010–11 season. Later in the season, he became the team's starting goaltender, replacing the veteran Turco. He had a two-game shutout streak later in the season. Corey compiled a 176:09 shutout streak from Jan 7–15, the longest by a Blackhawks netminder since Tony Esposito from January 16–30, 1972. From February 20 until March 5, 2011, he had an eight-game win streak, setting a new record for the longest such streak for a rookie. The streak was also one game short of the team record set by Glenn Hall. On March 28, 2011, Corey earned his 30th win of his rookie season at Detroit, becoming the first Blackhawks goaltender to reach the 30-win milestone since Jocelyn Thibault did it with 33 wins in the 2001–02 season. In his first playoff series against the President's Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks, Corey recorded a 36-save shutout in game five of the 2011 Western Conference quarter-finals, marking the first time he pitched a shutout in the NHL playoffs and the Blackhawks' largest margin of victory (5–0) in franchise history in a playoff game. The Blackhawks ultimately lost the series to the Canucks in seven games when Alexandre Burrows scored the series-winning overtime goal. On May 19, 2011, Corey signed a three-year $8 million contract extension with the Blackhawks. After the 2010–2011 season, he was named to the All-Star rookie team. Following the 2010–2011 regular season, Corey entered the year as the Blackhawks' number one netminder. After starting the year off strong, he struggled for a majority of the season and was often benched in favor of veteran backup Ray Emery who played extensively down the stretch. However, Emery could not completely win the starting gig and as a result, Corey remained the team's starting goaltender. After going 8–1–2 over his last eleven games, Corey was confirmed as the starter for the Blackhawks heading into the postseason. In all, he finished his second full season playing in 57 games and posting a 30–17–7 record with a .903 save percentage and 2.72 GAA with no shutouts. Corey became the first Blackhawks goalie to win thirty-plus games in back to back seasons since Ed Belfour did it in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons consecutively. Coming into the lockout shortened 2012–13 NHL season, there were a lot of questions whether Corey would return to his form from his rookie season. The team resigned Emery to give him a push for the starting job. The Blackhawks started off the season with a point streak of 24 consecutive games (21–0–3) with Corey getting off to a strong 11–0–3 start before struggling in a loss to the Avalanche in which he was pulled midway through the game after allowing three goals on 16 shots. Corey finished the season with a record of 19–5–5, with a 1.94 goals against average, a .926 save percentage with three shutouts. Because of his efforts, he was awarded the William M. Jennings Trophy along with Ray Emery who finished with a 1.94 goals against average as well. Corey was confirmed as the starter for the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs and started every game as Chicago won the Stanley Cup. On September 2, 2013, he signed a six-year, $36-million contract extension with the Blackhawks through the 2019–20 season. Corey started the 2014–15 season with a 12-5-1 record. However, he injured his foot on December 1, 2014 while attending a Rise Against concert. Due to this, he was expected to miss two-to-three weeks. Corey was selected to play in the 2015 NHL All-Star Game, one of six players selected via fan-vote (the others being his teammates Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews as well as the Buffalo Sabres' Zemgus Girgensons). On March 23, 2015, Corey became the fourth goalie in Blackhawks franchise history to have four 30-win seasons. He and Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens, won the William M. Jennings Trophy for the 2014-15 season. He finished the season with 32-20-5, recording a 2.27 GAA, a .924 SV % and two shut outs. After allowing nine goals in two first round playoff games against the Nashville Predators, Corey was benched in favor of rookie goaltender Scott Darling, who posted three wins and one loss against the Predators. He relieved Darling in game six of the series after the Predators scored three goals in the first period & he stopped all 13 shots he faced en route to a 4-3 win to take the series. Corey was named the starter over Darling for the second round against Minnesota. He started all four games in the second round sweep over Minnesota, allowing 7 goals in those 4 games. He also performed well in the following round versus the Anaheim Ducks, leading Chicago to a come-from-behind four games to three series win. On June 15, 2015, Corey collected his second shutout of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs in a 2–0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals to give the Blackhawks their third Stanley Cup in the last six years. During the 2015–16 NHL season, Corey appeared in 58 games for the Blackhawks. He posted a 2.37 goals-against average, a .924 save percentage, 35 wins, and seven shutouts. In March 2016, the Blackhawks announced that he would miss indefinite amount of time due to an unspecified upper-body injury. He finished the year with a career high 35 wins and tied his career high save percentage at .924. He also had a career high seven shutouts, which also led the NHL among goalies. He broke Tony Esposito's franchise playoff record for wins, with his 46th playoff win after stopping 29 shots in a 3-2 Game 2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. The Blackhawks would be eliminated from the playoffs by the Blues in seven games. On December 3, 2016, Corey underwent emergency appendectomy surgery in Philadelphia on the morning before a road game against the Flyers. He returned to the Blackhawks lineup on December 23, 2016. He was selected to play in the 2017 NHL All-Star Game. Career Statistics Regular season and playoffs International Awards & Achievements *2003–04 QMJHL Second All-Star Team *2003–04 QMJHL Telus Defensive Player of the Year *2004–05 QMJHL Second All-Star Team *2010–11 NHL All-Rookie Team *2011 NHL Star of the Week of Feb. 20–27 *2013 NHL Second Star of the Week of Jan. 19–27 *2012–13 William M. Jennings Trophy (with Ray Emery) *2013 Stanley Cup Champion *2015 NHL All-Star Game *2014–15 William M. Jennings Trophy (shared with Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens) *2015 Stanley Cup Champion *2015 NHL First Star of the Week of December 6th to 13th *2016 NHL Second Star of the Month of January Personal Life Corey is a native of Châteauguay, Quebec. He speaks both English and French. His teammates and fans often refer to him as "Crow." Category:Goaltenders Category:Chicago Blackhawks players Category:1984 births Category:Stanley Cup champions Category:Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Category:Norfolk Admirals players Category:Moncton Wildcats players Category:Canadian ice hockey goaltenders Category:Rockford IceHogs (AHL) players Category:William M. Jennings Trophy winners